A new Wawa convenience store and gas station is set to open Thursday morning at the Five-Points intersection in Washington Township NJ. The Grand Opening celebration starts at 8:00am and the ribbon cutting set for 8:30am.
Directly next to the Wawa, a brand new Burger King restaurant has also been developed which also looks ready to go, but the BK is waiting for final approvals before they start flame-broiling burgers.
I actually had a chance today to walk through the Burger King restaurant! I’ll share a few photos in a second but let’s focus on Wawa first!
While they are operating as separate businesses, both Wawa and Burger King share the same roadway access points, which lead into connected parking areas.
Also, as part of the opening of the new “Sewell” Wawa, unfortunately a classic Wawa will be closing… located about 1.5 miles away in Deptford; Route 41 and County House Road. This is extra sad to me because that is my neighborhood Wawa!
Wawa Sewell – Washington Township
Wawa is a large convenience store and gas station brand which is on a significant growth plan.. both in store density in existing areas, as well as expanding into new regions.
Based in the Philadelphia area, their signature food item is the hoagie.. but Wawa is constantly experimenting with new food offerings, including chicken sandwiches, burgers and pizza!
The new Washington Township Wawa is at the Five-Points intersection where Route 47, Route 41, Egg Harbor Road… and Blackwood-Barnsboro Road all meet.
Wawa realizes that a new store is a big exciting moment for the community, so they will be celebrating the opening with a morning of fun activities and free coffee!
The first 100 customers at 8:00 AM will grab a free Wawa T-shirt! (Note: I’ve been to these openings before and people really do line up early!)
Free coffee will be available for all attendees.
And one of their signature Grand Opening community events is the “Hoagies for Heroes” competition where two local emergency services teams compete against each other in a fun hoagie making experience! Wawa makes donations to associated charities.
And of course Wally Goose will be on hand, as well as members of the Wawa management team and local Washington Township officials.
This new Wawa sits along Egg Harbor Road, but right up into the Five-Points intersection.
Access into the Wawa property is front and back of the building… from Egg Harbor Road (Northbound only) and then also from the rear/side of the property utilizing the recently relocated Blackwood-Barnsboro Rd.
The Blackwood-Barnsboro road entrance has the benefit of a traffic signal at Egg Harbor Road which manages safe access to customers from all directions.
Interestingly enough my very first article on this Wawa was exactly five years to today… November 29th 2018!
At the time it wasn’t even really an official announcement… but I had tracked down some real estate marketing documents showing the proposed Wawa as well as a plot of land directly next to the convenience store. Back in 2018 the developer was looking for the second tenant (to join Wawa)… which we know today is Burger King.
if you follow along at the 42Freeway Facebook page, you’re well aware that this Wawa has been eagerly waited by the community for a long time… and at times people thought it just wasn’t coming!
But after covering a dozen or more of these new “Super” Wawas I can share that this project was a little more challenging than others.
First off, the core of this construction timeframe landed right in the middle of a global pandemic.
Additionally, the site preparation for this Wawa is likely one of the most challenging in South Jersey.
Blackwood-Barnsboro Road was literally relocated before the Wawa could be built. The old roadway route… literally goes right through the store!
So let me be clear… there are legit traffic management reasons for moving Blackwood-Barnsboro roadway connection point further back away from the intersection (on Egg Harbor Road).
Mainly, previously traffic at the Five-Points intersection would almost always back up from the light and with the old location of Blackwood-Barnsboro so close… the roadway would be blocked! Plus there was no traffic signal for Blackwood-Barnsboro.
With the new location of Blackwoods-Barnsboro Road being almost 500 feet further back from the intersection, it gives a lot more room for cars waiting at the main intersection traffic signal, as well as Blackwood-Barnsboro gains a traffic signal at Egg Harbor Road.
When you factor in all the variety of extended approvals from the township, County and State levels… you start realizing that a lot more coordination and approvals went into the this project than normal.
An in that mix of the roadway relocation, a larger contiguous plot of land was developed… enabling the development of Wawa and Burger King.
The new Wawa at Five Points Sewell Washington Township opens on November 30th
Burger King Five-Points Washington Township
The new plot of land that was created by the relocation of Blackwood-Barnsboro road actually has room for two commercial businesses…. Wawa was first to jump in, and then at a later date Burger King signed on to share the extended plot with them.
The new Burger King is not open yet but it appears that construction is done, and unofficially I’ve been told they are waiting on final approvals which they expect to be only a few weeks away.
I stopped over today at the Burger to check out the new building and caught up with a member of the Burger King franchise team
It’s my understanding that this new Burger King is a relatively newer design model for the flame broiled burger chain.
It features a higher 14-foot high ceiling, where that space was used to install large glass panels to provide and open view into the restaurant from outside, as well as a more dramatic dining experience for customers.
It’s a modern design restaurant with some aspects of an urban feel to it.
As mentioned, at this point an opening date has not been locked in
Links and Locations
Wawa Sewell Washington Twp 5-Pts (Opening Nov 30)
Egg Harbor Road and Blackwood-Barnsboro Rd
Washington Township NJ